Know when to walk away, know when to run

Yeah yeah I tried $2/$4 at UB last night again, and was doing pretty well until I decided Jack high was a good hand vs. someone I knew was a calling station (cue Ellix Powers tape from the WSOP). Dumb plays and some cold cards (with the exception of a couple of nice boats) netted me a loss last night. Also there were two guys acting like they were from the "Crew" last night on my usual $1/$2 table. If it was, they sure like poker I'll give them that. It sounded like the gamers I used to play with. Constant replays of hands, updates of how they were doing in tourneys, etc...

I was in a sleep induced tilt for most of the night though and lost $60. The only bright spot was gaining 12BBs @ The Gaming Club for the OIC. For some reason after that lost I fired up PokerNow and lost out quickly in a Omaha 8 SnG by betting like one of those "Real Men of Genius" Bud Light commericals. Today we salute you Mr. I Can't Fold A Stupid High Pocket Pair in Omaha.... I blame Brett Favre and the Cheeseheads decent win over the Rams for the tilting last night. I know he played in his 200th straight game (which is remarkable), but LET MY VIKES WIN THE DIVISION DAMNIT.

At least I won my two parlay bets this weekend to soften the blow of my horrendous play at UB. HE CALLED ME WITH JACK HIGH HAHAHAHAHAHA. Sigh.

6 days till I meet with the attorneys to try to fix the legal mess of my work comp case. I have no idea what's going to happen but I'm glad its coming to a resolution. I was hit in the head with a sign in the office about 4 years ago. As a result I have seizure like reactions to bright/blinking lights and stroke-like weakness in my left limbs. The problem lie within no medical back up to the problem, the neurologists can't figure what is causing it, so I'm caught between what I live with on a daily basis and what can be proved by tests. I just hope this whole mess gets resolved. I didn't need more handicaps (I'm hearing impaired as well) but life happens, somedays you're the dog and somedays you're the hydrant. Luck for me I got a very supportive wife who's stuck with me during these tough times, and a cute 15 month old who's taken over the house but in a good way.

Tired wife = poker winnings

If my wife hadn't been tired last night and kicked me out of bed I wouldn't have fired up UB and won back all my losses this weekend. The deck hit me in the face for about 45 minutes on one table. All my big pairs held up, my semi-bluffs worked, hell I even made a flush draw for the first time in god knows how long. The other table I didn't do as well, went up and down for the hour and a half and cashed out even. The UB bonus goes very slow compared to other re-load bonuses even at the $1/$2 level since its based on UB points (average .5 - 1 point per raked hand) which means at bare minimum 1,000 raked hands to clear the bonus. Its nice that they have a frequent player program (which I wish Party would have) but the points come so slowly that its like climbing uphill on a mountain of Crisco. I'll probably be hitting up PokerPlex next since Chris H. has mentioned its monthly rewards for just playing 300 raked hands and the ability to use all the Crypto-skins and receive bonuses from each one. Too bad this ecash PIN number is taking too long to get here so I could redeposit over there.

The OIC still isn't going well, I believe I'm down to my last $24 there. I played for about 4-5 hours over the weekend and still couldn't get anything going (getting Kings cracked 3 times in a row didn't help my spirits).

Back to work from my 5 day, extended weekend. Funny I don't feel as if I took a vacation since we were running from house to house everyday with something new to do. Holidays are like that I guess. We did get most of our shopping done (rather the wife got most of the shopping done), and I finally got what I've been wanting for a while... a 19" LCD monitor. Being able to play 4 different tables and see most of the action is great! Granted I usually play 2 or 3 table at the most (haven't done very well 4 tabling yet), but its nice that the tables do not overlap too much.

Variance and Attitude

If this becomes the norm I will need to scale back on my poker playing. I found myself getting grumpy and snappy with the wife and even my son. I remember being this way while I played Dark Age of Camelot during my powergaming days (4+ hours a day, often playing late at night). Its a different kind of feeling, I felt when I was addicted to on-line gaming, with poker I feel a different "addiction". There's a wanting to learn more, and become a better overall player, instead of being just result based (attaining a certain online ranking vs. a bigger bankroll). This difference is what keeps me coming back for more.

UB treated me a little nicer in the last two sessions making back 15 BB at $1/$2 vs. that 25BB lost while I tried $2/$4.

I fired up Stars still trying to build that $6.50 I had there two weeks ago. I've doubled it to $13 from an SnG 2nd and placing in a $1 PLO8 multi. I tried another $5 SnG and won! I caught the chip leader bluffing with 52o, took the lead then he pushed again with A2o.... except I had AA :D

I've been about even at PokerNow, tried a little $2/$4 again and won 1.5 BBs after 6 orbits. There's a lot more people playing suited connectors for raises and more steal attempts at this level. I'll proceed with caution. In fact my pokertracker self-rating is a mouse. Maybe I'll need to man up a little and be more aggressive going after the cheese. My big thing is not betting the river when a scare card comes up (3rd flush card, pairing the board, etc...). More then often someone hits it and I'm out 2BBs when they check-raise.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! My countdown to Black Bear is T-minus 13 days. I'm still pondering how much I want to give away to Chris H. if he can make it up there ;)

Gobble Gobble

Thanksgiving was a rush from house to house but it was good to see the families. Same old same old, ate too much, drank a little bit, and bet on the football games (which I won my parlay bet of Dallas and Indy).

Threw some money into UB with the reload bonus. I've gotten sucked out of some very fat pots there on the river, but I got my money in with the best of it, that's all I can ask. I do enjoy the interface on UB and the games are not terribly tough to beat. But, you do need to be aware of the weird straights people will hold on to. I adventured into a $2/$4 game for the first time and got killed by two bad beats but I felt I could play at this level once my bankroll deems it ok to do so.

I finished up my stint at InterPoker. The site is nice, but now I need to wait for some pin number to be able to withdraw. Added security is something I'll wait for. Its nice to see some precautions used while withdrawing money, makes me fell safer to have the money floating around on the internet.

I'm going shopping today (bad idea?) to get my wife some stocking stuffers since I already bought her a nice crafting table and some PJs from Victora's Secret.

Interpoker and Santa!

We're taking the little one out to the Mall of America today for his picture with Santa. He wasn't too thrilled about the one at Wal-Mart so hopefully there's a better reaction this time. Also, I'll be doing a spot of shopping. With the bankroll getting a little bigger I can afford to cash out a little bit and buy some presents I normally wouldn't be able to. Even one for myself, I've been eyeing a 19" LCD monitor for sometime, would be nice to run 3-4 tables and not have them overlap.

I threw my money into Interpoker today, so far very fishy play so some weird suckouts have been happening but a couple of nice wins have kept me above the aquarium. I'm playing $1/$2 6-max games and doing fairly well. I've grown to accept the bigger pots and faster play. The site is pretty but runs slowly and there's no where to check how close I am to redeeming my bonus. Any bonus whores who can help would be greatly appreciated!!

After a week I finally got my money from Pacific after cashing out of there. I know the games are soft, but I hate their interface plus inability to send hands to pokertracker. It wast the first site played on, made some cash there, but I like other interfaces much better. Plus the cashout times are horrid. 7 - 10 days is not good customer service. If they improve the site in the future maybe I'll go back and not any time soon.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I felt like a space cadet all day yesterday. Couldn't concentrate, couldn't think, and walking straight had become more difficult then making an over the should catch in center field. This added up to a quick night of coming home, playing with Wyatt, a quarter of Monday Night Football, and sleep.

Boring.

I also did not want to induce any winner's tilt, which I have done in the past to the tune of my entire win at a PacificPoker multi. I might hop on PokerNow for a little $1/$2 multi-tabling, but more then likely will approach the OIC and try to get to the $1/$2 level so I can qualify for that freeroll they're talking about.

Saw the news report about the deer hunter from MN that shot and killed 6 people because he didn't want to get down. WTF. Melees going on during basketball games, hunters shooting their own, too much violence going on lately. Luckily at home the biggest violence I'm subjected to is Wyatt jumping on top on me while I take a nap on the floor.

Sixteen days till I turn 30, sigh. At least I have the Black Bear trip to look forward to in Nineteen days. Hot tub, too much to drink, and poker. Ah, heaven on an indian reservation.

Grublog Classic II

Yes, this humble guy weaved through 31 of 33 rebuy crack heads to take 2nd in the Grublog Classic II (see Grubby's link to the left). I did not rebuy once but since I was high in the chip count I did take the add-on at the end of the rebuy period. It didn't seem real that I had a chance to cash until we hit the final table where I found myself in a decent chip position to steal some monster blinds and apply pressure when I did stay in a hand.

Key hands:

Last hand to the first break: 97o in BB flopped T - 8 - 6, I go all-in hoping a) someone had an overpair b) they didn't care about rebuying if they had TPTK . Person to my left had jacks and I doubled up.

Shortly after rebuys ended A5o in the SB, I tried to steal the BB and got caught with my hand in the cookie jar when he flipped over A8o, but a 5 flopped and I gained quite a few chips.

Knocked out fellow Minnesotan (Malice) when he tried to steal with J9o and I held KQs. On to the final table where there were talks of a deal (I just wanted to cash!!!) but people dropping like that Michael Stranhan Right Guard commercial (luckily Grubby stayed to my right the whole time, I don't think I could have placed very well with his aggressive play) and there was 5 left. I caught some some good cards AA, AQo twice, and AK once and re-raised on a couple of steals when I held junk to take down some blinds and money already in the pot. And it was down to me and jlee621 (sorry my internet acted up while we were chatting about SnGs, thanks for the 2 + 2 tip I'll try it out this week!!). He outchipped me 3 to 1 and me being the worst heads-up player this side of Dennis Rodman, I lost. I had a blast though, and Grubby even tried to sweeten the win with some KEM cards but to no avail.

Thanks again to all the rail birds and well wishers, I had a blast! The chat room was pretty cool, and I think it was AlCantHang's presence that gave me the luck I needed to take 2nd. And with the Showgirls DVD coming to my house I'm sure to have another blast..... did I say that out loud?

BLOGGER ATE MY POST

This is just a short note for my journal, for a post that got eaten by Blogger on Saturday . Went to Mystic Lake on Saturday, blackjack = bad, slots with cool little games = good. Fun time with Mom.

Blackjack pays to play!

If I had stopped when I cleared the bonus I'd have an extra $100. It wasn't until Chris H. dropped in on the table I was playing for the OIC (I was up to $86 but slid back down to $68) that I figured out I cleared the $200 bonus at Reef Casino (thanks for the linky Chris!). I went on a pretty good run and made an extra $200 on top of it! Anything to pad the bankroll while I squander more money at the poker tables. $400 in 1.5 hours, I certainly can't complain. Chris slid ahead of me in the OIC, I think he put the casino bonus on his site to distract me while I played 83o hoping to double down. There was one brief highlight of brilliant poker mastery as I smacked someone with the hammer from the SB and took down a small pot. Not so brilliant moment of betting into someone who obviously made their flush. It was fun to play with Chris though.

While on PokerNow! I played a .50/1 table of Omaha hi (caught nothing, got nothing) and a 1/2 LHE table, got sucked in by flopping 4 to a nut flush plus TPTK, but got a kick to the nuts instead by an overpair and not catching. The only highlight there was catching a 4 flush board and holding the ace. Against my better judgement I fired up a $10 SnG and made it to the bubble, tried to steal with ATo and ran into the Hilton Sisters who found their body doubles on the board. You think its a sign not to play SnGs when you're on the bubble and get beat by quads to stop playing SnGs? I think so.

Today its out to dinner with my brother-in-law/best friend for his birthday. Normally this would mean a night of shots, Golden Tee, and staring at chicks. Tonight it will be diapers, crabby kids, and crabbier wives. Its all about getting old I guess, but don't think we're not going to check out the ladies still :D

No poker, no cry

NON POKER CONTENT!

After a long meeting downtown today (which was enjoyable). I laid off firing up poker for the night. I get massive headaches from bright lights which can get so bad I can't remember my own name. I'm sure the fishes at Party were waiting for me to come on give them their money back. Its sad that when we got back from the meeting the other day, I wrote an email to my supervisor and couldn't remember the name in the "To" part of the email. Sigh. The neurologist said I'm "cured" but they don't live in this body and go through some days confuzzled like a drunken barfly at last call. Also WTF was she thinking when she said "you can drive because you can play softball". Sigh, only after my wife mentioned what happens to me when there are bright, blinking lights did she bother to look at my case history. I go to see this doctor once a year, and she was ready to give my license back because some of my dexterity in my limbs come back? This is why I don't like/trust most doctors. She was about to give back my drivers license solely based upon my ability to play softball and not my case history. It was like I was wasting her time just being there (not to mention the 1 hour wait for a 5 minute exam that I only got yearly). GRRRRRRR.

I'll be back tonight watching some WPT (hopefully its not a repeat tonight) and playing more of the OIC (I hope I'm still beating Chris H. to lead the Minnesota players in the challenge :D ). Also continue my quest for the PokerNow! jacket and KEM cards.

OIC and Pursuit of KEM cards

Thanks to Chris Halverson for reporting on the OIC @ The Gaming Club, I decided to toss my $50 in for the freeroll. The object is to turn $50 into $2000 (we'd all hate that now wouldn't we) and there's a set a bankroll rules you need to abide by. When you hit a certain money level you much leave that table to move up to the next limit and if you drop 25BB then you move down to the previous level. For a risk-free $50 hey why not? There's no playing NL towards the bankroll, which is fine with me since I prefer limit games (and an occasional PL game). Like Chris (see link in my favorite links on the left) I'll post my standings once I get home today. Yesterday started off great though. I was up to $75 already thanks to a couple of semi-bluffs and none of my big pairs getting cracked. I did lose a hand or two later in the night and finished at ~$70.

While playing some $25PLHE, I caught 99,QQ (twice), JJ (twice) in 75 minutes. All held up and I finished my first PL session in a month up $30 wOOOt! It seems that some people will call off their stack with Ace + rag and an ace doesn't hit the flop. But my best hand of the night didn't get any action. With 99 in EP I limped in with 5 callers. Flopped 9 - 3 - 3. I checked hoping someone would bet their 3, no one bet after the turn nor after my $3 river bet. Sigh. I also made a nice 19BB profit off of a $1/$2 LHE game when the deck hit me in the face. AA twice, held up, 95s in the big blind flopped two pair, QJo flopped two pair to beat AQ (been on the wrong side of that). Didn't make any flush draws, in fact I can't remember the last time I hit a flush, its been awhile.

I stopped to watch the Cowboys/Eagles game. I can imagine the dancing AlCantHang must have doing watching T.O. skate his team's way to victory. I'm sure everyone at that bar will need a Total Recall type memory eraser after viewing Al's dancing while watching the Eagles smackdown Jerry Jones' po' boys. Thankfully I'm holed up in Minnesota where there's still no snow plows on the roads and my leg isn't encased in ice if I leave it outside of my comforter. I'm not looking forward to winter.

PokerNow! Yes, right now!

I'm trying again to clear a bonus under Grubby's flag, hopefully this time it works! After 1,300 raked hands and two bonuses I'm up $300 ($200 from the bonuses). Now onward to 1,700 more hands for the KEM cards and 8,700 for the jacket OMGOOOSES! But, after seeing how fast the raked hands go while playing .50/1 LHE and .50/1 Omaha it will be a clinch to get the remaining hands finished.

The Party skin of PokerNow! is a bit bright but the little icons are pretty cool (I usually try to be the hockey player if he's available). I'm finding that maybe I should stay at the .50/1 limit level for awhile longer. Its much more profitable, I'm comfortable losing a little bit, and I feel more comfortable being aggressive in some pots. Despite my bankroll being large enough to make the jump to $1/$2, I'm just not "feeling right" about playing at the level yet. I know the players are just as bad but why don't I have the same 25BB runs like I do at the .50/1 level. 4 tables this weekend I had 20BB+ wins one was 55BB at an Omaha table (I won at every Omaha table I played at). Plus a nice 23rd in a $1 Stars tourney. Maybe I should switch to playing Omaha? It seems to be the most profitable game for me, I place in the money at most of the tourneys I play in (Multi/SnG) and 8 out of 10 times walk away a winner at the cash games. But the problem is I can't track my stats since Pokertracker doesn't accept Omaha hands (PLEASE UPDATE THIS!).

Today is my yearly exam at the neurologist office. I wait a year for a 15 minute exam, the doctor tells me I still can't drive and I walk out. Maybe in the future I'll be magically cured of all the things wrong with me after my accident at work. But for now, I live with having seizure-like reactions to bright light, weakness in my left limbs, and a balance problem. No sense in giving in to a couple more handicaps though. What fun would that be? I have a son to raise, a wife to love, supporting family to live for, and some fishes at the poker tables to take money from :D

Getting sea sick

Good god these 6 max tables leave you sea sick. Up and down like a Jenna Jamison feature shot. I managed to claw my way to respectable 5BB win night after being down 30+BB due to some nasty suckouts. But, at least I didn't get overplayed! A couple of hands last night made me wonder what these people were trying to accomplish.

STAGE #55644938: HOLDEM NORMAL $1/$2 [2004-11-12 00:02:55]Seat 2 - YEARNINGYETI $20 in chipsSeat 3 - REKYN1 $20 in chipsSeat 5 - DRIZZTDJ $90 in chipsSeat 7 - MISTERFRESH $63.40 in chipsSeat 8 - ELBORAK $24.75 in chips*** BLIND [dealer 8] ***YEARNINGYETI - small blind sitoutREKYN1 - Post small blind $0.50DRIZZTDJ - Post big blind $1DRIZZTDJ - Pocket [Ad,Ah] MISTERFRESH - Raises $1 to $2ELBORAK - FoldsREKYN1 - FoldsDRIZZTDJ - Raises $1 to $3MISTERFRESH - Raises $1 to $4DRIZZTDJ - Calls $1*** FLOP [6h,Qs,2s] ***DRIZZTDJ - Bets $1MISTERFRESH - Raises $1 to $2DRIZZTDJ - Calls $1*** TURN [6h,Qs,2s,9h] ***DRIZZTDJ - Bets $2MISTERFRESH - Raises $2 to $4DRIZZTDJ - Calls $2*** RIVER [6h,Qs,2s,9h,Kc] ***DRIZZTDJ - ChecksMISTERFRESH - Bets $2DRIZZTDJ - Calls $2*** SHOW DOWN ***MISTERFRESH - Show cards [10c,7d] (Timeout)DRIZZTDJ - Show cards [Ad,Ah] *** RESULT ***Total Pot($24.50) Rake ($1)Board [6h,Qs,2s,9h,Kc]DRIZZTDJ - Total ($23.50) HI:($23.50)One pair, aces [Ad,Ah -P:Ah,P:Ad,B:Kc,B:Qs,B:9h] MISTERFRESH - HI:king high [10c,7d - B:Kc,B:Qs,P:10c,B:9h,P:7d] ELBORAK - Folded on the POCKET CARDS

Yes, capped with T7o and raised on every street, I thought I was beat by KK or QQ or even KQ but T7???

Played a $25NL table last night caught AhQh, flop was 7h Qd 2h. Got all-in vs. AA didn't catch one of my 15 million outs, sucked but with that many outs to the nuts it was worth a try. Made back 1/2 of that stack by moving over to a $25PLO8 game. Won some pots with a weak high and nut low nothing scoop-worthy but enough to make me a winner at the table.

I just crapped out of a tourney with THE HAMMER, flopped two pair, two others pushed with 87o and.... caught an 8 on the turn GRRRRRR. It was a freeroll so go big or go home, which I did.

Today will be hustling around with Wyatt, I hope he's in a good mood, he's been crabby lately and frankly that's not much fun. Plus we have another showing on the house tonight. I hope the house sells, would be nice to have the extra space (not the extra mortgage payment) but if we're going to expand the family with one more rugrat we need it. Being strapped to a price hurts us since we can't lower the price too much on our current house or face only being able to put down a small amount on a new one.

Time for breakfast, eggs and sausage for me and Wyatt. Hope everyone has a good day :)

Limit you say?

Ok I went back to Absolute again tonight to take some more punishment, and that's what I got to start out. Back - to - back two outers on the river. At least I didn't get out-played tonight, I laid down hands when I knew I was beat, played some suited connectors in the 6 max games and hit a couple. I believe I ended up 10BB after clearing another 150 hands. As I was about to close out the site I check on the tourneys going on and see a Omaha hi/low $10 multi in 5 minutes. Its only 9:00, and there's only 25 people in tourney should be quick right? WRONG! After the first hand I realize that its LIMIT Omaha, not Pot Limit. Sigh. But, determined not to throw money away at tourneys anymore I buckle in for the long haul. First break comes and I've got an average stack thanks for a nice nut wheel scoop, even had the nut flush draw to boot.

During the first break I fire up Party for some $1/$2 LHE fun. Started off with a second best kicker AQ vs. AK, but then 3 hands in a row I hit a nut flush, top set, and top set with a flush draw betting into me and both he hits the flush and I fill up. About damn time I say! A third person stayed in the hand with.... second pair and a 9 kicker. If you're going to cap on two streets chances are the two people betting have more then one pair. God bless PartyPoker. Cashed out of my two tables there 13BBs up!

Fast forward to midnight and we're finally down to 2 people in the Omaha tournament and I made the mistake of leaving the other guy T500 where I could have put him all-in on the river. I have over T44500 chips after a lucky scoop but could have ended it right there and didn't. You know happens next..... I lose the next 7 hands in a row and he walks away the winner. $72 profit was damn nice but I had it wrapped up, too bad I was too fuckin tired to think. I don't know why I fare better at Omaha hi/low then Hold Em' (patience?) but its clear from the results of many SnGs and a couple of Multis that I'm a much better Omaha tourney player then Hold Em'

I hope the work day goes by fast cause 4 hours of sleep is killing me at the moment. I feel like I'm back in my online gaming days at Dark Age of Camelot. Maybe Wyatt will be nice and let daddy take a nap when I get home.... I doubt my wife will let me though.

Can I have another?

AK vs. AQ, Queen flops and I get out-played for 2 extra BBs. AA vs 88, 33, 99 you guessed it all three hit their sets. KK vs. J2o deuce on the flop, deuce on the turn. Top pair going to river too many times to count only to have a 4 card straight/flush hit the board. QQ vs A2o... called all the way to the river for a runner runner straight.

I did get outplayed a couple of times with their flopped sets and my TPDecentKicker. But other then that it was suckout central last night. The problem is at Absolute the pots are fairly small due to the tighter/better players so making up those lost BBs is tougher since one huge nut flush/straight/boat hand won't make it up. I'm trying to stay positive since 90% of the time I got my money in with the best of it. Gotta work on that 10% though.

I fired up Pacific and took 2nd in a $10 SnG, lost to an inside straight after flopping top two. I tried my luck at Party and was way up on in an Omaha SnG and promptly got sucked out by a player I should have pressed to knock out early in the tournament when I held the 2nd nut boat and he was betting into me. NLHE tourney sucked for me as all I could manage was some blind steals and with 4BBs left losing ATo vs. KK. Better luck next time I guess.

Back to Absolute...

Yep, got suckered in by Absolute again with a mailing and the 15% neteller deal they have. Won on the .50/1 Omaha 8 table, won on a 1/2 LHE table, lost my ass to a monkey on another 1/2 table and ended up down 7BB overall. JJ with a 8 - 6 - 2 flop? He stays in with a.... 2 and caught one on the turn. A7 vs. A3? Flop an ace...... rivered a 3. That is poker though, wish I could have done a reverse suckout but I'm learning more and more to laugh these off and keep getting my money in the middle with the best of it.

After 150 hands, I called it a night to watch my beloved Vikings take on the Colts. The Vikes started out of the gate like a turtle stuck in molasses. C'mon, the #1 offense in the league and Culpepper had 2 pass ATTEMPTS after 1.5 quarters? WTF Tice. Granted they got some talent in the backfield (Smith, Bennett, and injured Moore) but this team is known for the long ball. Having Moss out is hurting more then originally though. I picked the over at 58.5 and with a 14-6 halftime score it wasn't looking pretty. But a late charge and the Vikes tied it up 28-28 late in the fourth assuring me of the win. But a Manning 15 yard run and a Vikes LB trying to imitate our former governor, plus a nifty little left hand shovel pass, got the Colts into field goal range for the win. Maybe next week at Green Bay we'll see the passing game come back to its early season glory. They need it.

Ride the waves

My first week of playing $1/$2 have been that of riding very low only to catch a nice pot or two before closing up shop for the night. It would be nice to catch a nut flush/boat earlier in the night so I don't feel like I'm playing catch-up for the rest of the night.

In the morning I played for 2 hours ended up -3.5 BB on two tables. I got a little tilty after my top two got runner-runner flushed and two hands later my flopped trips got.... runner-runner flushed. Sigh.

But, I fired up the computer for a quick evening session and caught AsQs in MP and lo and behold its family pot time! 7 people see a pre-flop raise. Two beautiful spades on the flop gave me more then enough odds to draw out for my nut flush. 5 people stayed in for the turn and a 3 spade!!! A bet from the BB, call from UTG, a raise from UTG + 1, and of course a re-raise from me (slow play? maybe, but not after this mornings suckouts) BB calls my re-raise as does the UTG + 1. The river paired the board, and I felt like throwing my monitor to Canada, but... the BB checked and UTG + 1 checked, set up for a check-raise? Being the chicken-little I am I checked it down and BB turns over 99 for two pair (WTF??), UTG + 1 had KsJs, and I take down a 18BB pot!! YEAH!

I took my little profit and stuffed it into a $11 SnG (I know, I know) but I played Omaha hi/low which I've been consistantly ITM. And I won!! At 1 hour 45 minutes it had to be the longest SnG I've ever played. Mostly decent players, only one manaical jerk-off who spammed chat and finished 10th. But being down to T600 and beating the chip leader who had T6000+ most of the time rocked!

I also checked out Stars with my remaining $7.50 and played in a $5SnG PL Omaha. Its amazing how many people are out so quickly in these games. I finished 3rd mostly from folding like the Cardinals in the World Series (sorry Cards fans). I might go back and try again since I now have 2 $5 SnG buy-ins and try to make that little $7.50 into something like steak dinner or something.

Professional Pull Tab Player!

After bowling when the little one is taken of by a babysitting my parents are gracious enough to buy all of us (me, sis, bro, and my wife) dinner afterwards. God bless them for being so generous. Sometimes we throw together $5 a piece and play some pull-tabs. We usually don't win but cardboard crack is a good distraction while we wait for our food. Tonight, my sister screamed I WON $100!!!! Nice, a free beer or two since there was 5 of us in, $20 a piece. Then my dad pulled off the top of his last one to find some serial numbers! Hot damn! After further investigation he hits a $100 winner! Ok, now its $40 a piece from a $5 investment. This is like hitting the nut flush and low in PLO8 and the board doesn't pair. Lastly I hit a line but I always save those for when I'm done. My wife of course had to look and she says "Dave, this line is $100". OMFG! But wait... there's another line. A $200 WINNER!!! $25 investment, won $400. I attribute the good karma to cleaning the house today on my day off before the wife came home.

Played a little poker tonight about 1.5 hours on 3 tables of $1/$2 @ Party. At first it was suckout after suckout. Kings.... rivered by an inside straight. Flopped set, rivered by a 62s flush. TPTK about 3 times killed by assorted two pairs and caught trips. I thought the gambling gods were coming back for their money. But a couple of nice sets vs. TPTK and re-raised pots helped me walk away with..... 2BBs. Eh, its not much but being down 30+ BBs in the first 15 minutes was not promising.

If any knows how I can join PokerNow while having a PartyPoker account please email me! It says I can't join, I was hoping to take Grubby up on his offer :(

Sometimes you just gotta say....

What the fuck?

I hadn't played full sessions at the $1/$2 LHE tables at Party until now. OMG these players are BAD. Granted I lost 5BB over an hour on two tables but that didn't dampen my spirits. I called when I had odds/good draw, except a couple of weak calls when I knew I was beat but for the most part played a good game.

This hand made my night tolerable since I was down at this manaic table where 5 people would cap pre-flop with K5o....

I have AQs in EP and limp in since I know it will get raised, and it does with 5 callers. Flop comes out 4 - 7 - J with two of my suit. I called the bet of the BB next to me and it gets raised by MP, two other limpers in LP fold. The turn was an offsuit 5 , this time BB checks, I check looking for a free card to draw for my nut flush but the MP throws out another bet. I put him on AJ, but with the pot certainly being big enough me and the BB call. The river is a glorious T of my suit (finally made a draw tonight after having top two cracked by 47s, TPTK cracked 3 times by rivered two pairs). I check knowing he'll bet, I check-raise him, and he comes right back at me, hmmm.... maybe he was drawing to the flush too. Since I had the nuts I cap it, he calls with..... A4o. A pair of fours. What... the.... fuck... I gave no reason for anyone to believe I would try to buy a pot (I'd only seen 20% of the flops), even so why not just call instead of throwing out 2 more BBs? God bless PartyPoker, this is 10X easier then UB was. I hope I'll be able to make a run at improving my abyssmal $1/$2 stats (.34/BB per hour). I got my money back in Neteller ready for the next bonus whoring situation but I'd like to commit to playing $1/$2 at Party for a while and see if I can become a long-term winner at this new limit for me.

Watched the WPT Commerce last night for a bit. It takes some serious balls to play in those games. Amazing calls, bluffs, and smack talk. I didn't know Antonio "The Magician" was younger then me! God I felt old after hearing his age. God bless him for living out the dream of playing professional poker at such a young age.

Short night

I still feel like shit from this cold/flu/coughing I've had for the past two weeks MAKE IT GO AWAY!!

But I managed an hour of Partypoker last night playing one table of $1/$2 LHE and some 7 card stud. I think I played 5 hands for an hour of 7 card stud, the cards were that cold. I got three to a flush once, paired my doorcard once, nasty nasty cards.

Same for the LHE table, fold, fold, I played AJo, flopped rags, someone raise and re-raised, muck. I raised up 99 in MP got one caller, flopped Q - J - 4 rainbow, bet, got called, another rag on the turn, I bet, he folded. Exciting, I know. The sad part is the biggest pot I won was a BB special Q7o, when I flopped a OESD, stuck in for one bet, hit the straight but it also put three flush cards on the board, after check-calling it down, I beat out a flopped two pair.

I heard this morning it will be President Bush once again. Sigh. I can't speak in volumes about politics since I don't follow them much. I voted for Kerry per the "anyone but Bush vote". I thought this country needed a change, but it wasn't meant to be. Hilary in 2008?

Done with SnGs

I've found my leak and its playing in NLHE SnGs. Played in two last night, ran A9s into AA when I had a shortstack. Then ran AJs into KK when someone limp-reraised his cowboys YEEEEEEEEEEEHAW! Sigh. I'm going to put off playing in these things (except the Omaha 8 ones because those I seem to be constantly in the money at) until I've read up more on shorthanded tournament play.

I did however have a decent night at the $1/$2 tables at Party. 8.5 BB at one table and 6 BB at the other. The dollar amounts still get me shaky a little bit, especially when I won a $43 pot when my pocket 8s flopped a set and someone's Ace hit two pair. I could have bet it out for 2 more BB on the river but I got passive and called when he raised on the river when a jack fell. Slowplayed trips when a non-threatening board flopped 7s for me. I got away from KK when two aces came on the flop saving 2 BBs. I think that's my biggest leak is paying people off when I know I'm beat. I did call down KJ with a jack high board and someone turned over AJ. But, there was no flush nor straights and no one raised (hense no sets), I felt it was worth it.

Election day today! My money is on Kerry simply due to the results of the Redskins/Packers game. Well not really but it seems the public just doesn't want Bush back more then they want to vote for Kerry. Sad election when you have to pick the lesser of two evils. Hopefully Kerry will turn out to be more like Clinton. As you can tell I hate politics and have no decent way of describing it.

37 days till I turn 30. Can't wait to hit Black Bear Casino and let loose on the poker tables. I've also decided to take $100 and play 4 hands of $25 blackjack. -EV for sure but I've always wanted to do it.

Edit: Going to start listing my bankroll so I can follow it :P

Party Poker: $1,040
UB: $8 bonus and 2,200 UB points
Stars: Grrrrr $7.50 and 100 FPP
Neteller: $845 (waiting for next bonus opportunity)
Sportsbook: $50

What am I doing wrong?

I played in about 10 NLHE SnGs on Party and finished in the money in 2 of them. Bad, Bad, Bad. 6 of them were due to running into AA vs. KK type beats, 2 were tilty plays, and the two I made money were due to people getting knocked out faster then I.

I did go 1,2,1,4,8 in 5 Omaha 8 tourneys which is encouraging. Even the 4th wasn't that bad as I bad beat twice in a row by running cards to give the other guy trips. Again, encouraging that I got my money in when I had the best of it.

UB $1/$2 game has got the biggest spectrum of players that I've ever seen. Total fish, manaics, good tight/aggressive players all at the same table. Making it a very tough place to multi-table. I pulled my money out of there with $75 profit (should have been $125 but I tilted away $50 before leaving). I did acquire 2,100 UB points in two weeks, too bad I don't qualify for Grubby prize vault since I screwed up on signing up and he didn't get credit. If they offer a reload bonus in the future I'll be back, its got some decent games, freerolls, and the UB point tourneys are really really soft. I was 4th in chips with 23 left but since we had a showing on the house I had to leave and ended up 12th. I know I would have made the final table and had a shot at 1st.

Vikes sucks some serious astroturf this weekend. Missing Moss has Dante look like a Kindergardener on his first day of school. Colts failed on their end of my parlay bet grrrrrr, better luck next week I guess.